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| In the News |
| Outside Funds Fueled Petitions Omaha World-Herald August 10, 2006 LINCOLN - A group with ties to national anti-tax activists spent nearly $1.7 million gathering signatures on a pair of petition drives in Nebraska. America at Its Best, which lists its address as a post office box in Kalispell, Mont., donated all but $1,998 of the $861,998 contributed to a petition drive to limit state spending. The group provided all of the funding - $835,000 - for a separate petition that would ban the withholding of food and water from patients, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. The reports cover donations and spending through the end of July, the month in which petition signatures were turned in to the Secretary of State's Office for verification. While America at Its Best was the largest donor of this petition season, the Committee for Better Schools and More Jobs in Nebraska set an apparent record for spending by a single committee on petition signature gathering. The committee spent $1.43 million on a trio of initiatives that would legalize casino gambling in Nebraska. The previous high was $1.05 million spent by a group of Nebraska business interests in 1998 on a proposed constitutional amendment to limit growth in state and local tax collections. The reports list Boyd Gaming of Las Vegas as the sole contributor to the casino petition effort. Two of the casino gambling measures are awaiting a court ruling to determine whether they can go on the November ballot. The measures include a proposed constitutional amendment to allow three casinos in Nebraska and a proposed state law to direct how tax proceeds from the casinos would be used. The committee has dropped the third petition. Greg Lemon, chairman of the casino petition committee, said Wednesday that he wasn't surprised by the spending. He said the casino petitions had to compete with several other petition drives. He said the committee paid up to $7 per signature during the last few days before the deadline. Among the competitors were the two petitions backed by America at Its Best. County election officials are completing the process of verifying signatures on the measures. Both propose constitutional amendments and require 113,721 valid signatures to make the ballot. The Stop Over Spending Nebraska group turned in 160,211 signatures. The Nebraskans for Humane Care Committee turned in 137,200 signatures. An out-of-state contribution report filed by America at Its Best lists its national supporters as Americans for Limited Government, contributing $2.43 million this calendar year; the Club for Growth, $50,000; Funds for Democracy, $400,000; and the National Taxpayers Union, $100,000. The address listed for Funds for Democracy is shared by U.S. Term Limits, which has supported previous petition drives in Nebraska. Duncan Scott, the Montana attorney who filed the America at Its Best report, did not return a message seeking comment, and neither did the spokeswoman for Americans for Limited Government. Three other groups undertook petition drives this year: • Nebraskans for Video Keno raised $201,103 and spent $141,309 to gather signatures on a petition to allow electronic versions of keno games in the state. The group appeared to have enough signatures to make the ballot, but signatures are still being verified.Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom Copyright ©2006 Omaha World-Herald¨. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or distributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald. |
